Click here to request a complimentary copy of our current issue. 

Patient Falls From Examining Table: Nurse, Doctor Not Negligent, Court Says

Legal Eagle Eye Newsletter for the Nursing Profession

www.nursinglaw.com

  Quick Summary: The patient was left alone momentarily. The nurse returned when she heard a sound indicating he had fallen from the table. The court did not indicate how he happened to fall or what injury he received.

  The New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, recently threw out a lawsuit filed against a medical clinic over the actions of a physician and a nurse employed by the clinic. The court ruled there was no negligence.

  The ninety-year-old patient was escorted into an examining room by a nurse. He walked with a cane. However, according to the court, he was able to step up on to the examining table and seat himself without assistance from the nurse.

   The court noted the patient declined an offer of assistance from the nurse.

   The court ruled the patient’s advanced age in and of itself did not mean the nurse or the physician was negligent to leave him briefly unattended.

   The court said there was no evidence he was disoriented or cognitively impaired, and that is not to be assumed from a patient's advanced age alone. Hardman v. P.C., 678 N.Y.S. 2d 365 (N.Y. App., 1998).

More references from nursinglaw.com